


whether you are ready or not

by flyingthesky



Category: Hanna (2011)
Genre: Animal Death, Erik Heller Is (Perhaps) A Bad Parent, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-14
Updated: 2011-10-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21514522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingthesky/pseuds/flyingthesky
Summary: Hanna is ten when Father first takes her hunting.
Kudos: 4





	whether you are ready or not

Hanna is ten when Father first takes her hunting.

She knows that they get their food from the land, knows that Father has to kill what they eat, and she is not particularly surprised when he wakes her in the early morning, light barely touching the Earth.

"Hanna," he says, voice just loud enough to hear, "if you want to eat tonight, you must kill your dinner."

Her first instinct is to roll over and go back to sleep, but she fights it and gets up, slowly dressing. The world is a cruel place, Hanna knows, and she can only steel herself for what is to come. Father hands her the bow and arrows, made by her own hand those many months ago and comfortable in her hands from much target practice.

Both Hanna and her father leave their home, small and without many luxuries. Hanna does not know that, though. She knows only that if she wishes to eat, she must catch something to-day. There are only so many hours ( _measurement of time, 60 minutes in modern usage and 1/24th of a median Earth day_ ) in a day ( _unit of time, commonly defined as 24 hours_ ).

As quietly as possibly, Hanna slinks out into the forest. She stays in the trees, ears strained to hear even the slightest noises. Her boots are whisper-silent on the snow as she moves and then -

She is turning toward the noise, likely a moose, and scans for it among the trees. It has heard her and dashes off, but Hanna follows. When she is close enough and her path is clear, her arrow flies toward the creature and strikes it. There is a noise - a howl of life as it leaves the creature - and Hanna rushes over to where it has fallen.

It is a moose. It is also not dead, for her shot was bad and merely injured the creature instead of killing it. There is a crunch of boots behind her, and Hanna turns, braced for a fight. It is only Father, though, and he merely walks over to the deer and produces the gun. Lining up his shot, Father shoots it and the moose expires. He takes in what she has done, and Hanna feels that she has failed him. She was not ready for this test.

"Not bad for your first kill," he says, and then he throw a knife upon the snow, "Now prep it and bring it home."

Avoiding his eyes, she knows that is his way of punishing her for not making the shot, and Hanna slowly drops into the snow, fingers curling around the knife. She knows how to do this part, cannot screw this part up, and she will make her father proud.

She will be ready next time.


End file.
